Mistaken
by DisappointedShipper
Summary: A new case brings LIv to some familiar faces. Another Elliot resurfaces story, eventual E/O.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So this is my first SVU fic, so I'm in virgin territory. I do like constructive criticism though. I apologize if this starts off slow. Of course, all characters you recognize belong to Dick Wolf. If I owned them I'd be doing something different with them. **

Slowly she brought her arm up and stretched her hand over her mouth, trying to cover the very large yawn that had escaped her lips. She took a cursory glance at the watch on her wrist. 7:15 AM. Not the earliest she had ever strolled into the 1-6. Lord knows she had many late nights, early mornings or flat out all-nighters in her career. It's not that she had been catching last night with Amaro, no, that would have been easier on her. A perp, a late night call, a dead body or two, that she was all accustomed to.

As she made her way to her desk, she shook her coat off and draped it over the back of her chair. Coffee. She needed coffee. She had long since given it up in favor of tea, but on days like today, when she wondered if she had the strength to keep her eyelids from closing, she would indulge. She crossed the squad room and headed for the coffee pot. As she poured some of the hot brew that someone obviously made not long ago, a face came to her mind and a small smile played upon her lips. Munch. She would have even dared to drink his coffee this morning, the thick, slushy coffee he was notoriously known for, if it would have given her the energy jolt she needed. He hadn't retired long ago. It had been mere weeks, but she missed his presence around the squad room. He was just another person gone, another testament to how things changed around here and she just had to adapt. Munch, gone. Huang, gone. Alex and Casey, hardly around. _Him, gone. _She tried not to let that last thought, that last person seep into her consciousness, but ever since her incident with Lewis, where he was the one person who did pop into her mind, the perfect avenging angel who could just swoop in and help her, she had been hard pressed to find a day where she didn't think of him. Her partner, hell her whole squad….her boyfriend, all were looking for her. And in that moment, that moment of sheer rage and fear and everything else that was fueling her, she only thought of Elliot. What he would do to Lewis. How he would break every bone in his body for daring to touch her. Elliot would know what to do in that situation. He always did.

She shook her head back and forth quickly, as if shaking all thoughts of Elliot, of Lewis, of all that nastiness out of her head for the moment. She tightened her fingers around her coffee mug, letting the warmth spread throughout the tired joints and muscles in them. She crossed back towards her desk, tired. Everything was tired.

"Damn girl, rough night? I know it's gotta be if you drinking that coffee." Her eyes came up and met the smiling face of Fin. Fin, at least he was still there, still a constant. "Cassidy keep you busy into the early morning hours?" Fin's face lit up and he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Olivia let out a small grunt, he kept her up, but not in any way Fin was thinking. "Just one of those nights when you can't get comfortable, ya know? Tossing and turning…." Her voice trailed off. He stared at her intently, wondering if he may have stepped into something he shouldn't have, something she didn't want to talk or think about. Fin let out a small chuckle, trying to lighten the moment, "Well, there's nothing wrong with an Ambien night if it means you get a little shut eye."

He was right. She had way too many sleepless nights over the past few months. Although, last night, it wasn't a case that was keeping her up.

_Olivia sat at one end of the couch, her feet curled underneath her and her eyes glued to the file in front of her. The case was all but wrapped up, she just wanted to review some final crime scene details before she put the finishing touches on her report. As she sat there reviewing, Brian sat at the other end of the couch, a hand casually draped behind his head, while the other one held an open beer, and his feet propped up on the coffee table. He stared mindlessly at something on the TV, Olivia hardly paid attention to whatever it was he was engrossed in. _

"_Liv…" he said her name without glancing in her direction, eyes still fixated on the TV._

"_Hmm?" She softly let out, absentmindedly. _

"_You know what I've been thinking?"_

_She glanced up at him, then over to the TV, then back to him. The Bachelor. He was watching The Bachelor. She shook her head and gave him a small smile. "Were you thinking that reality TV dating shows have made the art of gold digging far more profitable and simple then it used to be?" She laughed softly to herself at her little quip. _

_If Brian heard her, he didn't retort, he shut off the TV and lowered his feet to the floor, swiveling his body to face her. "I think we should get engaged."_

They debated the subject back and forth for hours after that, she had just gotten use to the idea of living with somebody. With sharing that personal space. And while she was making a real effort to open herself up to Brian, to let her walls down a bit for this man, who in all honesty, was a damn good man, she wasn't sure if she was ready to talk engagements. Hell, their living arrangement had partly been born out of the Lewis mess. Besides, broaching the subject while watching some faux dating show was hardly the way she thought this talk would come about. To be honest, she wasn't sure how this would ever come about, maybe she resigned herself to the fact that this was her life, and there wouldn't be any grand gestures or swept-off-her-feet proposals, just her, by herself, as she always had been.

"Liv, Fin!" Cragen's voice shouting out through the room broke her train of thought. "I need you to head out to Hudson University, there's been a rape homicide not far from an on campus frat house. Doc Warner is already on scene. You'll handle this together, Amaro has the day off and Rollins will be in court all day." And with that they stood, gathered their coats and walked out of the squad room. "Liv," Fin started to say as they headed for the elevators, "Remind me to stop at that bodega down the corner and buy you one of those 5 hour energy shot things."

As they approached the awaiting CSU team, they saw the figure of Medical Examiner Melinda Warner stooped down in a row of bushes off to the left of the frat house, looking at something on the victim's wrist. Fin was the first to speak as he kneeled down next her, taking in the scene. "So what do we got, Doc?"

Melinda glanced over at him then glanced upwards at Liv who was standing on the other side of the victim's body. "Well, we got a female vic, 21 years old, raped, sodomized and then had her throat slashed. COD exsanguination. And as you can see, Prince Charming wanted to make sure he left his mark on her…" she pointed to several words, obviously written in Sharpie on her body. Slut on her forehead. Bitch on her abdomen. Skank, slut, whore….all written on her thighs. Next to the body was a pair of black leggings that had been cut up the side and shredded, discarded next to the body. She wore a pea coat that was still on, but splayed open, and a sweater dress that had been sliced down the center from neck to hem, revealing a bright pink bra with white polka dots. Blood covered her neck and had dried up in the snow below her. "This is exactly how she was found," Melinda continued on, "Apparently some late rousers from the frat over there finally sobered up enough to leave early this morning, one comes over to these bushes to relive himself and got the shock of his life. We found a purse not far from the body, name's Emily Matthews, 21, she has a Hudson U school ID and a Texas issued driver's license. Money, credit cards all seem to be in the purse, only items missing are a cell phone, if she was carrying one, and her panties."

Olivia listened to the words carefully and scanned the crowd that had gathered on the lawn of the frat house. She saw a lot of concerned and hung over faces. As she glanced around she saw one face that stuck out for some reason. A kid of about 21 or 22, a little above average height, with slight stubble on his face. He wore a beanie pulled low but some light brown hair stuck out from underneath, he watched intently, shoving his hands into his pockets. She stopped on his eyes. They were a deep, familiar blue. She wanted to walk over and get a closer look, but Melinda's voice caught her attention.

"With the snow that fell early this morning, CSU found no foot prints. I need to get her back to the lab, but I'd put time of death around 4-6 hours ago, the cold slowed rigor."

Fin stood and Olivia looked back to the crowd of kids, but the one she was looking at was gone. People were finally starting to disburse. "Thanks, Melinda. Let us know when you find anything else. I want to ask the group over there if anyone knew her or saw anything." Melinda nodded and Olivia and Fin walked the across the vast yard to the crowd of kids waiting behind the police tape. They flashed their shields at the kids. "We're Detectives Benson and Tutuola," she motioned to Fin, "Anybody know this girl, Emily?"

A small, attractive blonde girl stepped forward and spoke timidly. "Emily was a nice girl. But she was partying hard last night."

Fin eyed the girl cautiously, "What do you mean, partying hard? Was she doing any drugs?"

The girl shook her head back and forth. "No, no. Just drinking a lot."

"Were any of you friends of Emily's?'

Another girl, a brunette stepped forward, she was arm in arm with a tall, thin guy. "We knew her, but we weren't besties or anything like that. Just random people you meet and party with. But yeah, Emily was just drinking hard. She was playing beer pong with some of the guys, did some shots, some beer bongs. She was really knocking'em back. She was with this guy who told her to slow down, he didn't want to be holding her hair while she puked all night, he seemed pretty pissed she was drinking so much, but then the next minute they were all over each other and walking to a bedroom upstairs."

"Do you know the guy's name?" Olivia asked as she pulled out a notepad, jotting down info.

The brunette looked at the tall guy holding her arm, a thoughtful expression crossing her face, her brow furrowed. "David, what was that guy's name that Emily was with?"

The tall man, David, finally spoke, "He wasn't a brother here. And he's not someone who has pledged before. He's friends with Mikey, that's how he got invited. God, what is that kid's name?

The blonde girl spoke up loudly, excited that she seemed to recall, "Rich! His name is Rich!"

As she continued to make notes, Olivia nodded her head. "Does Rich have a last name?"

David spoke again, trying to think long and hard. "Sable?" He looked at the brunette on his arm and she shook her head, disagreeing. "Nah," She spoke, "Close, maybe Staple? Stable?"

"Stabler! Rich Stabler!" The blonde shouted again, "I had him for one of my criminal justice classes, sat behind him. Emily was with Rich Stabler all night."

Olivia looked at Fin. It couldn't be, could it? Her eyes widened and her knees felt like jelly for a moment. Stabler. Stabler.

Stabler.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I own nothing, although I wish I did. **

Olivia and Fin asked the group a few more questions. All they could really say was Emily was with Rich, they had a small lover's spat, both had been drinking, but she had been wasted, they made out and then they were gone, presumably to have sex. Not seen again until Emily's body turned up that morning. After passing out their business cards, they headed back into the car. Olivia sat down and let out a deep, long held sigh. Her head was spinning. She thought she saw someone familiar in the crowd. She'd recognize those Stabler blue eyes anywhere. Then the kids said she was with someone named Rich Stabler. How many Richard Stabler's could there be? She rubbed her palms up and down her jean covered thighs absentmindedly as she turned over every though in her mind.

Fin must have been doing the same because he turned the car on and just sat with his hands unmoving on the wheel, staring at the woman in the passenger side. "We don't know it is El's kid, Liv."

She finally stopped running her palms over her legs and turned to look at him. "The age range fits, Fin. Maureen and Kathleen both went to Hudson, maybe Dickie decided to go there as well." She raised her index finger on her left hand to punctuate another point, "AND last I saw him, he was going by 'Richard,' he had long gotten over being called Dickie."

Fin put the car in drive and started to head towards the house. "Ok, so here's what we do, we find out if Dickie is the Richard in question. If he is, then this may be a good lead. He's Stabler's kid, he's got that cop instinct in him for sure, and he probably recognizes if there was someone suspicious around Emily. I think we should call Elliot…."

"NO!" She thought she screamed it in her head, but she obviously hadn't. Because as soon as the piercing word escaped her lips, Fin hit the brakes. He turned and gave her a glance. Grateful no one was behind him to brake check him, he quietly slipped into a parking space on the side of the road, not far from the 1-6 and put the car in park. Olivia knew what was coming, the inevitable question. She braced herself for it.

"Liv, is there a reason you don't want us to call Elliot?"

"If we just want Dickie to provide us with some info, there's no reason to drag Elliot into it. He's over 18, we just have some questions for him. No need to make it a big deal or worry the kid's parents."

Fin knew he might catch hell from her for asking the next question, but it had been on his mind, never able to make the words roll off his tongue. "Liv, are you worried about having to talk to El or see him? I know we never really mentioned him after he left, but I know it took you by surprise."

She turned away from her friends piercing look. How does she answer this? Of course she's afraid to see him. What would see say if she talked to him? Could she formulate words? If she saw him would she be the Liv he was use to, or would she be cold and distant? She turned to glance out the window, she had thought about him so much lately, now there was a real possibility of speaking or seeing him, it was a feeling that threatened to swallow her whole. She quickly shook her head once again, as if shaking the thoughts from her brain. This was silly, they didn't even know if the Rich in question was her ex-partner's Richard or not. It could be anybody and here she was stressing over a non-reunion. It was beneath her.

"Fin, of course it took me by surprise. And no, I don't have a problem talking to him or seeing him. I called him plenty of times after he left, all the calls and messages he ignored, by the way." Her heart felt heavy as she said those last words, a familiar pain tightening in her chest, sadness, loss….she recognized it well. "He left, that was his choice. Hell, I think he deserved to. He gave SVU his all. If he wanted to cut ties with his old life, that's his prerogative. It's just…"She sighed, "We don't know if it's actually his kid. Let's do some more digging, see if he's actually enrolled there, where this Richard Stabler lives and go question him like we would any lead."

Fin started the car and began the rest of their trek back to the house. "Sounds like a plan, Liv. But just 10 minutes ago you seemed convince there was only one Richard Stabler in the world and he belonged to a certain hot head we all know."

Thirty minutes later they had relayed all the information to Cragen and sat on the edge of their desks while he stood in front of them, arms crossed, deep in thought. He thought of calling Elliot himself, asking him to send Dickie down this way to talk, but the times he had called his cell phone or the Stabler residence, his call either went unanswered or Kathy came on the line to say Elliot wasn't ready. He agreed with Olivia's assessment of not wanting to worry Elliot over this. They were sure Dickie couldn't hurt Emily, but perhaps he saw who did. The older man furrowed his brow, thinking of how they should play this.

"I can call Kathleen." Olivia said suddenly, interrupting Cragen's line of thought. "Kathleen and I had a pretty good relationship after some of her troubles and finding out about her bipolar disorder. I can call her, ask her to have Dickie meet us somewhere or come in, just to answer some questions. That way it's nice and friendly and we don't come off as some hardasses chasing down a former detective's son."

Cragen nodded his approval and Olivia slipped off to any empty interrogation room to call Kathleen.

As expected, the girl was happy to hear from Olivia. They spent several moments chit chatting about Kathleen's life, her graduation, the new boyfriend she had, Eli's time in school. Olivia smiled and sank down into a chair in the interrogation room. She was happy to hear all the Stabler kids were doing so well. She loved them, and in a way, she felt like they were her own. Every time Elliot beamed with pride over a straight A's semester, or a softball game won or a new word Eli learned, she beamed with pride also. She may never get the chance to have her own kids, she had come to grips with that long ago, her age, her profession…it might not happen. And he was already turned down for adoption. But at least she could watch these wonderful kids grow and be proud of them. Well, at least she could do that before Elliott left and severed all ties. Now she felt she really didn't have the right to impose. But Kathleen was a grown woman and made Olivia promise they'd meet soon for lunch. And she did confirm that Dickie was attending Hudson. She promised Olivia she'd have Dickie stop by the 1-6 to see her today, she knew he had a short class load.

As Olivia was preparing to let Kathleen go so she could report back to Cragen, Kathleen asked the question that had been on the tip of her tongue since Oliva's name lit up on her caller ID.

"So, Liv, have you talked to dad yet?" the younger woman asked cautiously.

Olivia stood up and rolled her head from side to side, feeling the tension build in her neck and shoulders. "No, sweetie, I didn't. It's just some simple questioning. No need to get him involved. We just need some help with someone we think Dickie may know."

"That's not what I meant, Olivia. Have you talked to my dad about anything, at all, since he left SVU?"

Olivia bit her lip and struggled with what to say next. Does she say to the kid, yeah, I tried over and over but your dad ignored me? Left me flat on my ass alone here? I'm afraid now. I think he wants nothing to do with me? She must have struggled over her words for too long because Kathleen picked up the conversation before she could.

"I don't mean to pry, Liv. I mean, he was just in a bad place for so long. It was like we didn't recognize him, ya know? I thought perhaps if he were to see you or talk to you, he might snap out of it. You understood him in a way we didn't, you guys saw things that we couldn't comprehend and I know it bonded you. But it was like every time you called he didn't answer or we'd mention you and he'd go off…." Kathleen's voice fell silent for a moment. "I was just curious, I mean, he had lunch with Mo and I not too long ago and he asked us if we had ever walked away from someone we cared about or lost a friendship, and how'd we would go about fixing it. We kinda thought he was talking about you. We sure as hell knew it wasn't about he and mom."

Olivia sat back down, what about him and Kathy? Were they on the rocks again? Before she could ask and before she was even sure she wanted to or had the right to ask, she heard a beep in her ear.

"Hey, Liv, I'm sorry. That's my mom on the other line, I got to take this. I'll call you about lunch, bye!"

And before Olivia knew it, the phone went dead, another Stabler shut the door on her. Must be a family trait.

Olivia tried to gather her bearings and walk back out see the waiting figures of Fin and the Captain. Thoughts spun in her head. She felt like she almost had an unfair glimpse into Elliot's life. She knew he was in a bad place, but she didn't know how badly that place was. And from what she gathered from Kathleen, it seems like he was stuck there for quite a while. There it was, that familiar pang in her chest. That sadness for the partner she lost, the friendship she mourned, the longing for the man loved but denied that fact to herself for so long. Her heart hurt for herself. And for him. He obviously had his own demons he had been battling too. She bit her lip and closed her eyes, fighting off the well of tears that had quickly built up. She wasn't going to do this. Not now. And not over him.

She steeled herself and stood up, heading out to her waiting boss. "Kathleen will make sure he comes in today."

As she walked up she noticed a very distraught young woman sitting with Fin and the Captain, sipping water slowly from a dixie cup, tears streaming down her face and the occasional hiccup escaping between sobs.

Cragen placed a reassuring hand on the young woman's back and extended an arm out to Oliva. "Kia, this is Detective Benson, she's working with Detective Tutuola on this case. Olivia, this is Kia Mitchell, she's Emily Matthew's roommate."

Olivia stooped a bit to look into the face of the petite crying girl. "Hey, Kia, I'm so sorry about Emily. Were you guys close?"

Kia looked up sadly, her eyes holding unshed tears threating to fall over the precipice of her eye lid at any moment. "We were best friends since were 10 or so. We moved up here from Texas to go to school together."

Olivia took the young girl's free hand that had been sitting lightly on the wrist of the arm holding the water. Olivia held Kia's hand in hers before speaking, "Kia, we will find the man who did this to Emily. I promise you that."

Kia's eyes reflected a wrath that Olivia wasn't expecting, fury and grief twisting her otherwise sweet face, "Good, I was hoping you'd say that. Then you can go and arrest that fucker Richard Stabler. He's the one who killed her."


End file.
